Rumblings force CMO to put some nominations on back burner

A day after commencing the process of nominations to boards and corporations, the Siddaramaiah government on Tuesday cut a sorry figure for having goofed the selection of nominees.

A nondescript Shivakumar Gouda Shetty was nominated as vice chairman of the State-run Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation. The nomination led to unrest among the party workers who are learnt to have directly complained to Siddaramaiah in this regard.

Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said Siddaramaiah immediately got Shetty’s background verification checked and directed his office to keep the order in abeyance on learning that he was an unknown face in the party. The CMO claimed that Shetty’s name was recommended by Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy. Reddy was not available for comments.

Besides, the government has also kept in abeyance the nomination of A M Pathan as vice chairman of Karnataka Small Scale Industries Development Corporation. But it is not clear why the government took such a decision.

Two other senior ministers, Higher Education Minister R V Deshpande and Housing Minister M H Ambareesh, are upset with Siddaramaiah for dropping the names suggested by them for nominations. Ambareesh has openly expressed his displeasure saying he should have been consulted before deciding on the nominations from Mandya.

Ambareesh had proposed the name of his follower in Mandya district, Amaravathi Chandrashekar, for nomination. But the chief minister nominated Gurucharan, a follower of former chief minister S M Krishna, as chairman of Mysore Electricals Ltd. Ambareesh and Krishna are not on good terms as far as politics in Mandya is concerned.

The names suggested by R V Deshpande, too, were not considered for nomination, sources said. Sources in the CMO said Siddaramaiah was likely to personally meet both the ministers in this regard.

Besides, nominations to other boards and corporations have created upheavals in the State Congress. A large number of workers are said to be upset with the party. While some are unhappy over being nominated to loss-making boards and corporations, others are disappointed over their names not being considered for a post.

Disgruntled party workers reportedly staged a protest in various parts of the State.

Delay

Sensing unrest in the party, the chief minister is learnt to have decided to delay the second instalment of nominations that was expected to have happened on Tuesday.

Nevertheless, the Forest department issued orders nominating Narayanaswamy Chalavadi as chairman of Karnataka Forest Development Corporation; C Eshwar as the head of Karnataka Forest Industries Development Corporation and Shambu Gowda as chairman of Karnataka Cashew Development Corporation.